Shall we dansu? (1996)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Masayuki Suo

Writer:

Masayuki Suo (writer)

Release Date:

11 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

He's an overworked accountant. She's an accomplished dancer. Passion is about to find two unlikely partners.

Plot:

A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Train | Dance Teacher | Dance Contest | Ballroom Dancing

Awards:

51 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kôji Yakusho	...	Shohei Sugiyama
Tamiyo Kusakari	...	Mai Kishikawa
Naoto Takenaka	...	Tomio Aoki
Eriko Watanabe	...	Toyoko Takahashi
Yu Tokui	...	Tokichi Hattori
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Masahiro Tanaka
Reiko Kusamura	...	Tamako Tamura
Hideko Hara	...	Masako Sugiyama
Hiroshi Miyasaka	...	Macho
Kunihiko Ida	...	Teiji Kaneko
Amie Toujou	...	Hisako Honda
Ayano Nakamura	...	Chikage Sugiyama
Katsunari Mineno	...	Keiri-kachô
Tomiko Ishii	...	Haruko Haraguchi
Maki Kawamura	...	Eiko Miyoshi
Takako Matsuzaka	...	Fusako Fukube
Kôichi Ueda	...	Torakichi Kumada
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akira Emoto	...	Tôru Miwa
Nanea Hoffman	...	Tomodachi
Robert Hoffman	...	Tomodachi
Hirotaro Honda	...	Sayônara-Pâtî no Emu-Shî
Yudai Ishiyama	...	Giruba no Hama (Hama the Jitterbug)
Maiko Itô
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Keiko Kishikawa
Goro Kataoka	...	Burusu no Jô
Angelique Midthunder	...	Dansâ (as Angelique Roehm)
Shûichirô Moriyama	...	Ryo Kishikawa
Masahiro Motoki	...	Hiromasa Kimoto
Ren Ôsugi	...	Sugiuwa, the Floor Manager
Angélique Roehm	...	Dansâ
Misa Shimizu	...	Natsuko
Hideo Tanaka	...	Tokihiko Okada
Yôko Tanaka	...	Yôko Kishikawa
Paradise Yamamoto	...	Band Leader

Directed by
Masayuki Suo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Masayuki Suo		writer

Produced by
Yoichi Arishige	....	associate producer
Kazuhiro Igarashi	....	producer
Tetsuya Ikeda	....	chief producer
Hiroyuki Kato	....	producer
Shôji Masui	....	producer
Shigeo Minakami	....	assistant producer
Yuji Ogata	....	producer
Shigeru Ohno	....	producer
Yasuyoshi Tokuma	....	executive producer
Yasuharu Urushido	....	producer

Original Music by
Yoshikazu Suo

Cinematography by
Naoki Kayano

Film Editing by
Junichi Kikuchi

Casting by
Tetsu Maeda

Production Design by
Kyôko Heya

Set Decoration by
Yoshihito Akatsuka

Makeup Department
Mikiko Hayama	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Yoshino Sasaki	....	production manager
Masamitsu Washizu	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gen Yamakawa	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Kiyoshi Yoneyama	....	sound editor
Kiyoshi Yoneyama	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Tatsuya Osada	....	lighting director

Editorial Department
Bruce Kitzmeyer	....	conforming editor

Other crew
Howard Smith	....	operator: remote head
Toshihisa Watai	....	production coordinator
Toshio Watari	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Altamira Pictures Inc.
• Daiei Studios (as Daiei Kabushiki-Gaisha)
• Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV) (as Nippon Telebi-housou Kabushiki-Gaisha)
• Hakuhodo (as Kabushiki-Gaisha Hakuhodo)
• Nihon Shuppan Hanbai (as Nihon Shuppan Hanbai Kabushiki-Gaisha)

Distributors

• Toho Company (1996) (Japan) (theatrical) (as Toho)
• Kadokawa Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (DVD)
• Buena Vista International Finland (1998) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International Spain (1998) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (1999) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• EDKO Film (199?) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Filmes Lusomundo (1998) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Miramax Films (1997) (USA) (theatrical) (cut version)
• RCV Film Distribution (199?) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (199?) (Luxembourg) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (1998) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1999) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Abril Vídeo (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Gativideo (199?) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD) (cut version)
• New Films International (1997) (USA) (all media) (cut version)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Home Video (1999) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Shall We Dance? (USA)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language.

Runtime:

136 min | Argentina:118 min (cut version) | Germany:118 min (cut version) | Netherlands:118 min (cut version) | USA:118 min (cut version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Japan:U | Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. (bw) | New Zealand:PG | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Company:

Altamira Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

In the first scene, a man's shoe in close-up plunges into a black pool in the street. This symbolizes the world renowned Ballroom Dancing Competition in Blackpool, England, referenced later in the film.

Quotes:

Mai Kishikawa: This may sound rude, but I hope you don't join the class with me as your goal.

Movie Connections:

Features Follow Me! (1972)

Soundtrack:

Save the Last Dance for Me

Definitely a must see...

Okay. As you can see this is one of my favorite if not favorite films. This is a character drama which is absolutely hilarious. The main character is a business man who is stuck in a "same thing, different day" mentality. He sees a woman looking melancholy out a window of a dance studio from his train everyday and wonders about her and decides to find out more about her. He decides to join the dance class only to find out she is not the instructor. From there he bonds with four other dancers and learns to enjoy dancing as well as finding out about the mysterious woman.

There is no gratuitous (or any) sex involved, just how a small group of people learn how friendships are formed and developed.

This film was remade with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez and the new one while appealing is nowhere as enjoyable as the original. The movie never made it big in America because it was not eligible for the Oscars since it was broadcast on television in Japan (movies cannot be released on TV or they are disqualified for Oscar nominations). It did win numerous awards in Japan for best film, cast, director etc for their "Oscar" awards.